We have all heard this line from the poem by John Donne, but have you ever considered that this could apply to your business as well?

Out there are businesses that are targeting the same customers as you and covering a related field, but these businesses are not the competition. Instead they present an opportunity for you to grow your business as part of a mutually beneficial arrangement.

The benefits of forming an alliance are many, the most important being that you can potentially increase your reach and generate more leads. You don’t have to part with any money in order to form an alliance, the level of cooperation could extend only as far as making referrals. But taking it further, you could share marketing costs in order to create joint promotional collateral and advertising. Between yourselves you can determine the extent of the alliance and this can always be reviewed in the future and revised as necessary.

I certainly practice what I preach having formed a couple of alliances myself. That’s right… there is no reason why you can’t have more than one alliance as long as there isn’t a conflict of interests. I work with One to Three Marketing, Its’eeze, Enterprise Marketing, Fabulous PR and many more.

These are companies that I had already had dealings with as part of my own business and all it took was a phone call or an email or a networking event to bring to the fore the benefits of working together. Every good business owner is looking for ways to grow their business and increase profitability, so when presented with an opportunity for an alliance, each person I approached jumped at the chance.

The beauty of an alliance is that you stay firmly in control of your business and without relinquishing anything. So there is nothing stopping you from scanning the marketplace to see if there is another local business (or island) that could share a synergy with your own.

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About nicolepinpointmarketing

Nicole is a mum to two, wife to one and friend to many.
I am also the owner of a successful marketing consultancy business, established in 2008 to work with, help and support local businesses.
Pinpoint can act as a consultant or we can hold your hand to manage your marketing or we can do it all for you! Your marketing, your budget, your way. Marketing, organisation, helping and caring are my strong points and passions!